Screw Yahoo! — Facebook Is Hoping To Take Down Tumblr

Screw Yahoo! — Facebook Is Hoping To Take Down Tumblr

Facebook has been pretty quiet since Yahoo's recent acquisition of Tumblr. You'd expect them to dole out a snazzy revamp of Timeline, or at least makeover their own acquisition, Instagram. Instead, there have been some rumblings in the social media world of a possible Notes resurgence — you know, the diary app that Facebook tried to make happen but ultimately got buried beneath Timeline, Newsfeed, and Wall post updates. (Your most recent update is probably from 2011, we'd guess.)

According to TechCrunch, Facebook's hiring of the pseudo-blogging platform development team Storylane back in March hints to a possible overhaul of the social media giant's blogging capabilities. Most techy fingers point to a new Notes format, but some suggest a totally new app. Either way, Tumblr better watch out; Facebook's rounding up the troops and all eyes are on the micro-blogging site.

The Facebook take-down (if it happens) will be a slow burn. Facebook has to compete with Tumblr's easily customizable themes, niche threads, and, the most important part, GIFs. At the moment, a video or looped image can be embedded in a Note, but not animated — something Tumblr thrives off of (GIFs for everyone!). There's also that whole thing of making Notes a hot item on their Newsfeed (it's basically a safari adventure through the depths of Facebook to find the service). And, even after all that, there's the cult-following Tumblr's amassed that will need some convincing, too. Which, if these reaction images are of any indication, won't be an easy task. (Complex)